I and my bro have been fasting for the past four days now, for religious reasons?! Not at all....but for health reasons, so it's a wet fasting rather than a dry one( we're allowed to drink water and even ACV, tea even. Just don't eat solid food.)
Image by Stephanie Curry from Pixabay
The goal is to get up to a five days without food, sounds crazy right? But that's what I love! I love doing crazy challenging stuff. I love testing my limits.. There are multiple health benefits attached to this fasting but that's story for another day.
An incident occured yesterday, which I fasted of course. Since the cash shortage saga continues in my country, Nigeria, I had no option than to walk the distance between my house and the SIM Swapping centre (wrote about this sometime ago and yes, still hadn't been successful). The distance could measure up to 1.5-1.6 km, just on your way there, and obviously you have to walk that same distance to get back!
I had no choice and I have the get that SIM, so I walked the distance with an already two-day old fasting. After all the queuing and obstacles which took about a good three hours, it was finally my turn. I did it successfully and was happy....time to go back home...
When I stepped out, the sun was directly facing the centre of my head, indicating it's around 12:00pm. "God!", I thought to myself, "is this how I am gonna go home?"
I walked and walked and walked and surprisingly, I wasn't even famished. I was hungry but not as I expected I'd be after trekking that long distance. I occasionally took stops drink water and pour some over my head.
About midway through my destination, I received a call from my brother. With a concerned voice he told me that he is cooking something for me and that I will break my fasting when I get back, that the distance is too long to walk on an empty stomach and that I would start afresh tomorrow.
Now what happened when I heard all that is the point of this article. I said to him that I won't break my fast, "I am not even starving for God's sake!" He sounded like he was about to start arguing with me so I agreed for him to cook. However I didn't plan to eat when I get home, I just said that for him to cut the call and let me walk in peace.
I said to my brain, "bro's just kidding, he's just trying to test my endurance. I know he won't cook, you will probably go home and find nothing."
That statement worked like magic! It's not like my brother has ever pranked me before for me to think like that, infact that's not even the kind of relationship we have. I was so willing to continue that I unconsciously tricked my brain into actually believing that so that I can continue.
Now this is what would have happened if I had planned on eating after receiving that call. First, my will to continue would be eradicated. Second, I would have started feeling tired because the will is no longer there, making it more difficult to me to reach the destination, third, my hunger would have multiplied ten times making it more excruciating for me, because I would be thinking about food.. Not that all that weren't there, but my sudden shift in mindset would have made them overwhelm me.
I got home, gallant as ever, with a lot of swear on my face. I headed to the bathroom, took a shower and changed clothes. Bro served me my meal, it was tantalizing not gonna lie, but yeah, I said you "you need that more than I do" with a cheeky smile. I thought it was badass🤣.
At the end, my younger sister and her friend ate the food.
So guys, it's okay to lie to your brain so as to prevent it from lying to you. If I hadn't lied and tricked my brain, it would have told me a big lie which I know would have gone along the lines of "it's not that you can do it anyway", "you really are tired, do you want to kill yourself?!" and other excuses. At the end I would have ended up feeling weak after eating because I let my brain give me excuses.
So here's a quote I coined:
"When trying to achieve something, it is okay to lie to your brain sometimes, or it lies to you."
Here's my day 4 face btw:
